Internet Mixtape

David Blaine Explains How He Held His Breath for 17 Minutes

I sure love TED talks, for a lot of different reasons. But one of the best reasons is that you can take a giant d-bag like David Blaine and put him on TED's stage, and it magically cures him, for the duration of his talk, of most of his douchebaggery. He actually sounds, at times, like he's not entirely comfortable with all the things he does to himself. 

Who's that Asshole? Oh, that's me...

About a week ago, I sat down with CNBC's Dennis Kneale to talk about social media, the interwebs, and how most companies are totally f-ing it up when it comes to engaging audiences online. Unfortunately, I don't hear nearly enough conversations in the marketing world that go down the uncomfortable paths Dennis and I explored.

I was worried I'd end up on the cutting room floor, but they were pretty generous...take a look! "Social networking guru?" More like full-fledged PR scumbag!  

Animals on Ice Skates

Have you ever seen a bear on ice skates? Usually these kinds of situations don't go very well, but when it's done right, it's brilliant. This video is amazing, but I also kind of want to see a video of someone trying to put ice skates on a bear in the first place.

I did a search for other animals on ice skates, but only found one video. It was well worth the effort...

Turkish Ice Cream Man Channels Buster Keaton

So hilarious for everyone watching, so frustrating for the person trying to buy an ice cream cone...

Underwater Video from a Flooded Meadow

Following a heavy springtime snowmelt, an alpine meadow in Austria was recently, instantaneously, turned into a deep, crystal clear lake. A fairly well-trafficked spot, the meadow features hiking trails, flower bushes and benches, making for a super-surreal underwater landscape.

A few creative divers decided to check it out and produced the following beautiful video:

(via wimp.com)

Twits: Dramatic Readings of Celebrity Twitter Updates

This is more or less the best thing ever. The girl reading P. Diddy is great, but the Lindsay Lohan guy has something special going on.

(via Metafilter)

Really Early Video of MGMT (2002)

So you know that band that you and everyone you know really love, MGMT? You know that awesome song, "Kids," that's still more or less inescapable? You know how that song got famous in 2008? Here's a video of Ben and Andrew, the two guys in MGMT, playing "Kids" for a crowd of fifty at a club in 2002:

Now watch this video, of the same two kids, playing the same song, at the Reading Festival in Leeds last year for a crowd of 50,000 (or more):

There's something so incredible about watching these two videos back-to-back, or playing them both at the same time....even though their performance back in 2002 was rough and they seem nervous and uncomfortable at times, the music is completely there, ready for a stadium. The only thing that needed to catch up was the size of the crowd. To see a piece of music that will eventually get millions of people excited first being tested by two nervous college students for their friends is a rare and amazing thing to be able to witness.

Even though I never wrote any songs as good as "Kids," I know exactly what it feels like to be 18 years old and playing loud, crazy music you wrote for your friends and not caring what it sounds like. When you're on a stage in a setting like that, you're just dreaming of playing somewhere like Reading, but for most people that will never happen.

Knowing that this is where MGMT will eventually be, however, with tens of thousands of European fans screaming their lyrics, makes that first video all the more magical by giving it a sense of pre-destiny...

Raiders of the Lost Ark, Re-Imagined as a 1950's Serial

What if Forrest Gump was made in 1949, directed by Frank Capra, and starred Jimmy Stewart? Or if in the late 40's, Charton Heston introduced the Indiana Jones character in Raiders of the Lost Ark, racing Peter Lorre to find the Ark of the Covenant alongside Gregory Peck and Anthony Quinn?

YouTube user whoiseyevan, a self-described "writer/filmmaker trying to get his big break,"  has put together an amazing series of trailers for popular movies from the 1980's and 1990's, re-imagining / editing them as if they were created in the 1940's and 50's

Here's his hacked trailer for Raiders of the Lost Ark...given his avowed love of old adventure serials, I have to imagine George Lucas would really appreciate this labor of love:

A quick dive into the notes for this video explains that to make this trailer, whoiseyevan took publicly available clips the following movies: The 10 Commandments, Prince Valiant, Naked Jungle, Secret of the Incas, Jungle Queen, Zulu, Look to Lockheed for Leadership, Casablanca, The City of Brass, Mr. Moto takes a Vacation, Star in My Crown, A Pain in the Pullman, On Dangerous Ground, Patton, King Solomons Mines, Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Greatest Show on Earth, David and Bathsheba, The Screaming Skull, When You Know, Mysterious Mr. Moto, Lawrence of Arabia, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, and Superman at Bay.

Here are some of his other trailer pre-makes, for Ghostbusters and Forrest Gump, respectively:

Less than 24-Hours Later, the Kanye Mashups Begin

And this is probably the best possible application of this priceless bit of audio imaginable. I thought that nothing could quite top the Family Guy / Christian Bale freakout mashup, but this comes pretty damn close:

Whoever made this is an internet genius.

Senator Al Franken Draws Detailed Map of the United States from Memory

A post title that requires little elaboration. The following video was shot at this year's Minnesota State Fair by NPR's Minnesota Public Radio, and serves as a lovely, whimsical counter-balance to another, highly-discussed video featuring the comedian-turned-senator from the same event.

As incredible as it would be if this was the first time anyone saw him do this, apparently drawing an extremely-detailed map of the USA is kind of a regular parlor trick for Franken, which he performs from time to time in front of crowds. Kind of like how when there's a lull in a party, I can sing the entire Animaniacs "Names of All 50 States & their Capitols" song.